Phoenix Coyotes’ blue-line competition remains red-hot

The competition for ice time on the Coyotes blue line hasn’t stopped now that training camp is over.

“I don’t think it ever will,” defenseman Michael Stone said.

The team submitted its 23-man roster to the league Monday, and it included eight defensemen since Rusty Klesla (concussion and whiplash) was moved to injured reserve.

Coach Dave Tippett expects to utilize all eight players, but the final spot next to David Schlemko seems to belong to David Rundblad for now.

Rundblad impressed in the preseason with seven assists and has been working with the power-play unit.

“That’s one of the greatest strengths of his game,” Tippett said.

That would position Stone and Chris Summers as the odd men out. Stone’s exclusion is somewhat surprising because he played all but eight games last season and was given a three-year, one-way extension in the off-season.

But the 23-year-old thinks he knows why he could be out of the top six.

“I don’t think I had the best training camp,” he said. “I think I need to improve in a lot of ways and get back to the way I was playing at the end of last year in order to continue to fight for time.”

Stone’s asset is his booming shot, but that won’t keep him in the league. Moving the puck quicker and “defending harder” are at the top of his to-do list.

“Rundblad has probably been better than Stoney,” Tippett said. “It’s great that (Stone) recognizes that. He’s trying to improve his game. Ultimately, we’re going to need everybody at some point.

“We know what Stoney can do. He had a real good second half of the year last year. If he gets back to that level, he’ll be a good player for us.”

The players might disagree, but Tippett has no problem having too many men and not enough spots in the lineup.

“That competition for jobs pushes everybody to a new level,” he said. “One guy is struggling, that means you have another guy that can jump in and do the job for you. Those are all positives for our team, even though the player might take it as a negative. (Stone’s) going to play better. Ultimately, him trying to make himself better will make everyone else around him better.”

Down to 3

Winger Paul Bissonnette saved himself a cross-country flight to New York Saturday afternoon when the NHL decided to reduce his 10-game suspension to three games.

“In my mind, I believe it shouldn’t have been a suspension,” he said. “But under the circumstances, it’s a lot of relief.”

Bissonnette had a hearing planned with Commissioner Gary Bettman Sunday to appeal the automatic 10-game ban he was given for coming off the bench in an illegal line change to join an altercation against the Los Angeles Kings Sept. 15.

But his camp already told the league what its case would be, and that was enough for the league to rule early.

The premise of Bissonnette’s argument was that he was completing a line change for Max Domi.

“We ended up finding a video pretty late that clearly shows the play coming into our end, and Max had turned and started skating toward the bench,” Bissonnette said.

Ice chips

Klesla skated for the first time Monday since he took an open-ice hit in that preseason game against the Kings. He’s expected to skate again today.

“(Head athletic trainer Jason Serbus) was encouraged (Monday) by the on-ice and the gym workout he had,” Tippett said.

The time for the Oct. 26 home game against the Edmonton Oilers has changed from 6 p.m. to noon.

ESPN’s Scott Burnside has picked the Coyotes to win the Stanley Cup. He also predicted defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to win the Norris Trophy, goaltender Mike Smith to grab the Vezina Trophy and Tippett to win the Jack Adams Award.

The league will introduce hybrid icing this season. It’s a blend of “touch” and “no-touch” icing because linesmen now have the option to call icing if a defending player wins a race to an imaginary line that stretches from the faceoff dots. This would avoid a potential collision along the boards.

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